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At the end of Rambam Hilchot Avodah Zara 5 (halacha 14 by some counts, 10 by others), he says

‫ ואפילו להזכיר שם עבודה זרה שלא דרך שבועה--אסור, שנאמר "לא תזכירו". לא יאמר אדם לחברו, שמור לי בצד עבודה זרה פלונית וכיוצא בזה. וכל עבודה זרה הכתובה בכתבי הקודש--מותר להזכיר שמה, כגון פעור ובל ונבו וגד וכיוצא בהן.

Basically, it's forbidden to mention the names of idols, even to say "near idol x", except for the ones mentioned in Tanach.

As far as i know, the Greek gods are not mentioned by name in Tanach (see Are any Greek or Roman gods mentioned by name in the Bible? on Christianity.SE, which mentions a couple from the NT but none from Tanach).

However, i know Orthodox Jews who indeed mention the names of Greek gods.

Is there a heter for this practice? Perhaps because they have entered Western culture (unlikely though, because idolatry was big in Eastern culture as well, and is clearly forbidden ;)). Perhaps because they have fallen out of favor for the most part? (Though see Does anyone still worship ancient greek [sic] gods like Apollo and Diana? on Yahoo Answers, which says that there are.)

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Scimonster
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  • FWIW, there were a couple of Tanach citations on that CSE question: last one in this answer is from I Kings; this comment cites Judges (though in Greek). – MTL Feb 08 '15 at 19:28
  • @Shokhet I'm not sure the Ashterot == Aphrodite counts. Looking at Wikipedia, Venus/Aphrodite might have been influenced by Ashterot, but they're separate. – Scimonster Feb 08 '15 at 19:38
  • Fair enough. Just thought I'd mention it. ...the other one probably doesn't count either, as I haven't been able to find anything that remotely sounds like "Aries" in the surrounding verses. – MTL Feb 08 '15 at 19:46
  • @Shokhet חרס -> Heres -> Ares. – Scimonster Feb 08 '15 at 19:49
  • Ah. Thanks for that :) ....a bit of a random place/way to reference a Greek god, if it's really supposed to do that. – MTL Feb 08 '15 at 19:50
  • @Shokhet Sefaria translates it as "from the ascent of Heres", which could make a bit of sense replacing Heres with Ares, but it isn't even supported by the Greek translation. The Greek in the comment there is Αρες, while the god is Ἄρης. So, yeah. – Scimonster Feb 08 '15 at 20:00
  • Related: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/37767/reading-books-about-avodah-zarah/37769#37769 – Salmononius2 Feb 09 '15 at 02:08
  • שמעתי that the answer to this question is that the idols of the Greeks, Romans, and so many other pagans are batel, because their worshippers have renounced them as gods. I'm not totally sure that works for names though, nor do I have a written source – הנער הזה Feb 09 '15 at 06:44
  • But anyway, the Talmud and Midrashic sources sometimes name Greek or Roman gods. The only one I can remember right now is Aphrodite (Avodah Zara 44b) but I'm pretty sure that there are more – הנער הזה Feb 09 '15 at 06:48
  • @Matt I linked to a Yahoo Answers Q&A which states that people still worship the ancient Greek gods. But your Talmudic citation would make an answer. – Scimonster Feb 09 '15 at 07:08
  • I don't think a Talmudic statement is an answer, it just begs the question. But even if there are people who still worship these gods, that might not matter. There's a concept of bittul, of nullifying the idol, which can be accomplished in particular ways. See Maseches Avodah Zara 52a and Rambam Hilchos Avodah Zara ch. 8 – הנער הזה Feb 09 '15 at 15:31
  • Related: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/81706/ – Fred Dec 20 '22 at 19:18

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The fact that no-one associates the name of the Greek goddess of victory with it's pagan origins is precisely the reason Rabbi Yisroel Belsky told me not to worry about the apparel company named after her.

He added there is room to be stringent if you really want to, just don't make yourself or others crazy.

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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike_(mythology) – Double AA Feb 08 '15 at 18:10
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    @Double I left out the name and link so people would appreciate finding it after searching and have an aha! moment. It wasn't as a chumra:) – user6591 Feb 08 '15 at 18:14
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    This appears to be based on the Beis Yizchak (YD 152:5), who says that it is okay if the name has become most commonly associated with something other than the deity (which explains why chazal had no problem referring to money as mammon). – Fred Feb 09 '15 at 07:21
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    @Fred could be. But is it historically accurate to assume mammon was a deity before money was called that? – user6591 Feb 09 '15 at 20:37
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    @user6591 Perhaps not, but that's the example that was given in the responsum. – Fred Feb 09 '15 at 20:44
  • @Fred a rabbi told me about this beis Yitzchak in the context of שדה הבעל (which none of the rishonim seemed to know is reference to the god, Baal even though most scholars today believe that's it's meaning) – הנער הזה Feb 09 '15 at 20:55
  • @Fred Yeah, i saw that in the tshuva you linked. I made sure to read it before commenting:) It was a question on him, not you. – user6591 Feb 09 '15 at 22:27